86 Cal. 329 | Cal. | 1890
— This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment of life imprisonment upon a conviction of murder in the first degree. Numerous errors are assigned.
1. We cannot say that the superior court erred in overruling defendant’s motion for a new trial for the reason that the verdict is contrary to the evidence. Although there is a serious conflict in the evidence, and, as it appears, from the bill of exceptions, even a preponderance in favor of the defendant upon his defense of alibi, still, as there is sufficient evidence to support the verdict, it must be assumed that the jury, who saw and heard the witnesses for the defense, had good reason for discrediting their statements.
2. The superior court did not err in excluding from evidence the newspaper accounts of the killing and of the arrest of the defendant. They were not competent evidence of any material fact in the case, and were not rendered admissible by reason of the fact that they might have tended to corroborate the statements of one of defendant’s witnesses upon purely collateral matters called out upon cross-examination. There had been no attempt to impeach the witness upon these points, nor any question made as to the truth of his statements.
4. In attempting to define “ reasonable doubt,” the judge of the superior court gave an instruction containing an expression which has been repeatedly condemned by this court as meaningless, if not confusing. To tell the jury that the defendant is entitled to be acquitted if there remains a reasonable doubt of his guilt, and then, in the next breath, to tell them that “ mere possible doubts, however reasonable, which beset some minds on all occasions,” should not prevent a verdict of guilty, would seem to tend only to confusion. But in two cases (People v. Kernaghan, 72 Cal. 609, and People v. Lee Sare Bo, 72 Cal. 623) this court, while severely and justly condemning similar if not identical language to that above quoted, held, nevertheless, that, taking the whole charge together, there was a sufficiently accurate definition of what the law terms “ a reasonable doubt,” and that the instruction was not invalidated by this meaningless expression. Upon the same reasoning, it may be held that its use in this instance was not prejudicial error. We cannot, however, abstain from again expressing the hope that the trial judges who have made use of this form of instruction will eventually see the propriety of returning to the approved definition, which, since the time of Chief Justice Shaw, has never been improved upon.
5. The jury were instructed that, while it was necessary to prove the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt, he could establish any fact essential to his defense by a mere preponderance of evidence. It is claimed that this was, in effect and by implication, an
6. There was no error in charging the jury that “a case might arise wherein a jury would be justified in finding a verdict for the defendant upon the testimony of one witness, against the testimony of any greater number of witnesses.” This is certainly true as a legal proposition, and it is not perceived how its statement in this case can possibly have prejudiced the defendant.
7. In instructing the jury upon the question of alibi, the trial judge made use of the expression “ place of the alleged murder,” and, immediately following, in the same connection, used the words “ time and place of the murder.” It is claimed that this was an assumption that the crime of murder had been proved, and was equivalent to an instruction to that effect. We do not so regard it. The instruction has regard to the crime of murder “ alleged ” in the information, and so the jury must have understood it.
8. The court correctly instructed the jury as follows: “ If you entertain a reasonable doubt as to whether the defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree, then you should not find him guilty of murder in the first degree, but you should proceed to inquire whether he is guilty of murder in the second degree.” But, immediately following this language, the court added: “And if you believe, from the evidence in the case, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant is not guilty of murder
We have thus reviewed all of the assignments of error. We find that the court used language in its charge tending to confusion upon some points, but that the entire
It is so ordered.
McFarland, J., and Sharpstein, J., concurred.